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It was a runaway train that nobody was about to stand in front of on Day 3 of the $15,000 Main Event being hosted by The Lord Poker Tour (TLPT) at the Landing Casino in Jeju Shinhwa World Resort. From a field of 191 total entries, Stephen Song breezed to the $750,000 first-place prize to add another title to his poker resume, which already includes an EPT Main Event, WPT Prime Championship and WSOP bracelet triumph.
The payout was the second largest in Song’s career and marked his 15th recorded tournament win. His live tournament earnings are now just a hair under $10 million, according to the The Hendon Mob.
Making the trip to Jeju, South Korea, was always a priority for Song, and building some momentum going into the WSOP that begins in just over a week will be a welcome sight. A seventh-place finish in the Circuit Main Event for $16,000 was just the tip of the iceberg for Song.
Entering the final day of this Super High Roller Series Main Event that boasted a $3,000,000 guaranteed prize pool, Song was looking to better his final table appearance from earlier in the week. Those hopes unfolded in spades as Song bulldozed over his competition en route to a runaway victory, pocketing three-quarters of a million dollars in the process. Throughout the final table, Song made things look very easy while making every correct decision and getting slapped with the deck at the right time.
TLPT $15k Main Event Final Table Results
| Rank | Player | Country | Prize (US$) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stephen Song | United States | $750,000 |
| 2 | James Mendoza | Philippines | $450,000 |
| 3 | Marius Gierse | Germany | $320,000 |
| 4 | Martin Nielsen | Faroe Islands | $220,000 |
| 5 | Patrik Demus | Hungary | $170,000 |
| 6 | Ivan Zhang | China | $130,000 |
| 7 | Huawei Lin | China | $100,000 |
| 8 | Jiaming Zhao | China | $76,000 |
| 9 | Haitao Lei | China | $62,000 |
Day 3 Action
There were 15 players who returned to their seats at the start of Day 3, all with the hopes of lifting the trophy at the day’s end. Marius Gierse entered the day with a commanding lead over the rest of the competition and that lead continued to grow in the early going. There were no real short stacks when play got underway which led to a slow pace of chips being passed around the two tables. The seal finally broke when Junbo Qu was eliminated with his pocket sevens against Song’s pocket kings.
Not long after followed the eliminations of Gary Thompson, Martin Sedlak, Mauricio Salazar Sanchez, and Quan Zhou before the first break of the day. Upon returning from that break, Bin Leng managed to double his short stack but then was sent home in 10th place on the very next hand. The final nine players then took a production break and were introduced with smoke and mirrors before the final table got started.
The final nine players battled it out for well over an hour before anyone even got a sniff of the payout desk. Despite a massive three-way cooler, no eliminations took place, although James Mendoza was left with just a single big blind. That didn’t deter the eventual runner-up as he managed to double up three consecutive times, which brought him back to the middle of the pack. The first elimination belonged to Haitao Lei, which started a flurry of payouts.
Jiaming Zhao held the chip lead at one point on the final day, but it only lasted a matter of hands. Zhao eventually bowed out in eighth place at the hands of Mendoza, who was now in contention for the top stack. After the second break of the day, Song caught fire and virtually became unbeatable.
The last female standing in the competition was Huawei Lin, but her time was limited upon returning to the shortest stack of the seven players remaining. Lin was poised for a double-up to stay alive, but Song managed to spike a pair on the river, which vaulted him into the chip lead. Ivan Zhang, co-founder of the TLPT, was next on the chopping block. A fairly quiet day at the felt by his standards, as Zhang was unable to gain any traction and eventually fell to Song as well.
Patrik Demus also held the chip lead at the final table at one point, but the deck was not as kind to him. Demus managed to stave off elimination multiple times despite the cold deck. An epic fold after flopping two pair against the set of Song allowed Demus to survive a little longer, but eventually his demise came in fifth place. Martin Nielsen was one of the last players to enter the field on Day 2 and proved that a spin-up is always possible by reaching the final table. Laddering all the way up to fourth place for a payout of over $200,000 on just one bullet will go down as a success no matter what.
As for the start-of-day chip leader, Gierse struggled for the latter half of the day and was unable to turn things around. There was a brief glimpse of hope for the German high-stakes poker pro who actually doubled up off Song, but the very next hand would see it all come to an end. At first sight, it appeared that Song would end the tournament with a double knockout when he picked up pocket jacks against the ace-king from both Gierse and Mendoza. However, Mendoza managed to find a four-bet and fold after two all-ins in front of him. Gierse wasn’t as lucky with his chips in the middle, and some of his outs were already dead.
That left Song and Mendoza to battle it out heads-up, with Song holding a massive chip lead. It turned out to be a lot of small-pot poker between the two players to kick things off until Song spiked a full house against the two pair of Mendoza. With just a few big blinds left, all of the chips went in the middle on the next hand. The hot streak continued for Song as he made two pair with some rags and brought an end to the inaugural Main Event of the TLPT.
